


Damned If I Do Ya

by MystericaEngland (MystericasMercy)



Series: Blueberries and Plums [1]
Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Marvel 616/MCU Hybrid, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Denial of Feelings, Domestic Avengers, Falling In Love, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Jealous Bucky Barnes, Jealousy, M/M, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark Friendship, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Not really but I needed to make that reference due to the fic's title, Oblivious Bucky Barnes, POV Bucky Barnes, Pining Bucky Barnes, Pre-Slash, Tony Stark is at an All Time Low, implied James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov - Freeform, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2016-06-11
Packaged: 2018-07-14 11:30:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7169243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MystericasMercy/pseuds/MystericaEngland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now that he thinks back, it probably all started after he began living with the rest of the team. No, scratch that. It began the first time Tony got his hands on his metal arm, and they finally got to properly interact with one another. There had been a word of warning from Steve at some point - “Be careful, Buck, he can be a bit much sometimes” - but so far, Bucky had found himself rather drawn towards the man, more than anything else. And when he heard that Tony was pansexual, he was certain he would be okay with it. After all, he had never had a problem with anyone else being gay, or interested in anything but the opposite gender. However, the more he watched Tony, the less sure he was about that...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Damned If I Do Ya

Now that he thinks back, it probably all started after he began living with the rest of the team. No, scratch that. It began the first time Tony got his hands on his metal arm, and they finally got to properly interact with one another. When Bucky thought the silence would kill him, and that he would never be able to deal with the sight of Tony's workshop, it being too close to HYDRA's labs, he was met with nothing but surprise and awe. He should've known better, really. The man never shut up, after all. So when he came down, just as promised, Tony didn't even notice him for the first five minutes, being too focused on his work, on talking to his AI, on the music, and on arguing with the 'bots. It wasn't until Tony just happened to turn into the assassin's direction till he noticed his presence and guided him to sit down. He explained everything he did to the other, constantly asking questions – does it hurt? Are you feeling anything? Can you move your fingers that way? Would you like me to explain something, so you can make minor fixes yourself? – and the few times that he would remain quiet, not even talking about any of the other subjects he sometimes swayed to, like projects, the team, or Pepper's prodding, the beeping of his bots and the blasting of the music would keep them company. All-in-all, it was never uncomfortable for Bucky, especially since Tony refrained from treating him any differently than the others; there was no extra care, there was no hesitance from touching him. Just Tony Stark's normal behaviour.

 

There had been a word of warning from Steve at some point - “Be careful, Buck, he can be a bit much sometimes” - but so far, Bucky had found himself rather drawn towards the man, more than anything else. In fact, sometimes he would choose to sit down in his 'shop, just listening to the man work, and letting his voice soothe him down – may it be from a stressful day, or from nightmares, or the times he simply couldn't fall asleep in the first place. Thinking back at it, he probably fought it for a long time now, drowning in a river of denial, rather than letting the realisation wash over him. Then again, he didn't see the signs himself. James Buchanam Barnes had never been one to fall in love with other men, after all – besides, he was quite fond of Natalia, which is why this all came to a surprise to him, once he became clear about what “this” was.

 

When he heard that Tony was pansexual, he was certain he would be okay with it. After all, he had never had a problem with anyone else being gay, or interested in anything but the opposite gender. However, the more he watched Tony, the less sure about that he was. Sometimes, Bruce would join Tony in the workshop; of course Bucky thought he would be okay with that – after all, Bruce was one of Tony's closest friends, but the more the man flirted with the other scientist, the less he enjoyed being in his presence. All those words of endearment – no matter how ridiculous (beautiful brussel sprout and sweet cabbage, really) – just drove him insane, and Bucky found himself coming less and less often whenever the man joined his favourite scientist in his work. This even went as far as him inquiring FRIDAY about whether or not Tony was alone. Then there was Colonel Rhodes – a man closer to Stark than any other – and he couldn't help but wondering if there was anything more between the two of them, with how close they were, and how his namesake never seemed to have any problems with his apparent best friend kissing his cheek or calling him honeybear. But it wasn't really Bucky's business with whom he slept or not. He'd just have to assume that the two would be very discreet about their business, as he never actually saw anything between Tony and anyone else. Honestly, nothing was worse than this one time Bucky had found them curled up in the loveseat Tony and him usually occupied during movie nights, and Bucky honest-to-god felt like throwing up. Tony, noticing how pale he had gone and how unresponsive he was to his usual flirtations, seemed to be embarrassed by the whole situation and immediately got up, trying to comfort him in whatever it was that was going on. Bucky just told him he had a rough day, and that he's fine, but he wasn't. He really wasn't.

 

The next morning, he found Tony flirting with Steve, who put down a cup of coffee in front of the genius. It didn't look like he had much sleep – he was still wearing the clothes of the previous day, he lacked bed-hair, and he was up in the morning in the first place, which was an usual indicator for a working spree, so Bucky guessed that he wasn't the only one who hadn't gotten a lot of shut-eye that night. Just as he was pouring himself a cup of coffee as well, he heard Tony all-but-purr at Steve; rationally, he knew Tony was just messing with the other super-soldier, trying to get him to blush, but at that moment, it was just enough. He crushed the cup in his hand, startling Tony mid-sentence and making him freeze, a shocked expression on his face. “Will you just fucking stop?! Ugh. Not this early in the morning.” The second Bucky turned around, however, he saw just the tiniest glimpse of fear in the mechanic's eyes, and guilt crashed down on him. He didn't mean to do that. Tony had never looked this vulnerable in his presence before, not because of him. Sucking in a deep breath, he muttered “I think I should go” and nearly ran out of the kitchen.

 

The Sergeant felt terrible for how disgusted he felt about Tony's approaches, especially since there was no good reason for him to lash out like that. He wanted to blame it on being surprised, but that couldn't be it, after all, Tony was known to be a playboy – then again, he seemed to reserve his flirtations only for people he was close with, barely having made any advantages towards anyone else ever since his break up with Pepper Potts. Tony hadn't expected him to return to his workshop anytime soon after his outburst, and was pleasantly surprised to find him coming down the elevator later that day after all. It was clear just how relieved the man was; he must have thought that their friendship would be affected by him having made a mistake; that Bucky must have come to hate and resent him. He didn't voice this concern, but Bucky had been able to read Tony through the aid of his eyes a few months ago. He could understand what was going on under his mask, and he'd never, ever, allow anyone to hurt the man the way he obviously had been hurt in the past; nor would he allow him to feel like he ruined their friendship just because he couldn't keep his emotions under control.

 

After that, Tony had attempted his best at keeping himself from flirting with any of his male teammates while in Bucky's presence. But of course, that couldn't last forever. Their current villain of the week – which would soon turn into the villain of the month - required them to do some undercover work, and once Steve and Natasha discussed how they'd split up, a quiet growl escaped him at the mention of Tony being teamed with Natasha. Of course, it didn't escape her enhanced hearing – damn these super soldier powers – and thus she made the suggestion of Tony and Bucky teaming up instead. “Think of it, it makes sense. You and I have been working together a lot of times now, our undercover missions are nearly perfect at this point. Sam and Clint even each other out in a difficult situation, and these two–“ she pointed over her shoulder, “understand each other blindly nowadays. Normally I would say Stark should work with me, but this is an important mission, and we can't risk any mistakes due to misunderstandings.” And with that, it was agreed.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

12 hours later, and they found themselves in a hotel room together, with Tony seeming more awkward with the situation that he was himself. For one thing, they were supposed to share a bed with one another – not a big deal, Tony assured him, as he and Rhodey often shared a bed together – and Buck had to hold himself back from not getting annoyed at that little detail – and he knew how Steve and Bucky had a tendency to share a bed before as well, so really, that wasn't too bad. What was bad, however, was that the hotel staff believed them to be a couple, which more than obviously made Tony uncomfortable on more than one occasion. Even with all the reassurances that their friendship wouldn't suffer from this little pretense act, there was still a slight twitch in the genius' smile, and Bucky didn't like it at all. So he called Mrs Potts to calm the other down; watching her cradle him a little after pulling him in her arms. After having calmed down, however, Tony informed his roommate that he wouldn't be returning for a while, that he would need some time to cool down, and he would return before the end of the night. But as night came, and Tony was far from being in their temporary home, Bucky found himself unable to sleep. So he counted the hours until his partner would finally return.

Nothing prepared him for a drunken Anthony Edward Stark, however. With a tequila bottle still in his hands, the man quietly stumbled into the room – and despite contemplating to leave it, Bucky just couldn't, and got up, taking the bottle away from him and drinking it himself instead. He didn't ask what was wrong, knowing that he wouldn't get a response, and just carried the man to their bed, holding him tight till the end of the night. And for the first time in ages, both of them managed to get a decent amount of sleep.

 

They didn't speak about it. They didn't tell the others, despite knowing that they probably should have. All that mattered was that they spent the next few nights together without any more protests, any more problems. Until one night, Bucky came to their hotel room earlier than before and walked in on a half-naked Tony, who had just left the shower. His hair was still dripping, and the only thing keeping him from being stark naked was a small towel wrapped around his hips. And it was only then that it dawned upon the super soldier what was going on. As he found himself memorising every inch of the younger, and yet older, man's body, every scar, the way the arc reactor was glowing, every flaw that made him perfect, his abs, just everything about him, he realised that he had fallen in love with Anthony Edward Stark.

And he would make it his mission to make him fall in love with him as well.

 

Turns out he still wouldn't mind when Tony kissed another man. He'd just like to be the one doing the kissing.

**Author's Note:**

> Got any prompts? Message me on tumblr!  
> http://mystericaengland.tumblr.com/ask


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